This weekend has been bizzy-bizzy over at the Zivley Law Firm. We have been migrating all of the firm’s hard files over to a perfectly organized digital file system on the server.

The new copy/fax/scanner that Perry received last week is truly a jewel. The great folks over at Canon were a tremendous help to Perry when it came to choosing the right solution for achieving his paperless office goal.

Perry went with the ImageRUNNER 2270 model, which is loaded with all the good stuff and has a really ‘user friendly’ operator’s interface. (I’ve been using it non-stop this whole weekend – it really is a workhorse that is easy to steer.)

It may sound dreadful but going paperless is really the only way to operate these days. Now Perry will have the ability to access any client file instantly from his network of devices. This means when he needs to e-mail any piece of paper it will be ready on his server for instant reviewal, editing and sending.

Monique (Perry’s Legal Assistant) will be responsible for scanning all incoming mail, and deliveries into the system as PDF’s. What is really cool about the Canon machine is that there’s an option to setup paths that allow for the scanned data to be directed where ever the operator needs it to go. This can include any storage port in the network, i.e. work station hard drive, server hard drive and e-mail inbox’s. With this system in place all Perry has to do is check his e-mail to review the daily mail when he is out of the office.

Going paperless really is less pain than one might expect. Sure the initial convergence of the hard files into digital is a challenge and does require a certain degree of patience and equipment, but with the right team and game plan in place a transition like this really is a piece of cake.

The copy/fax/scanner also has an option to set-up client ID#’s which will help Perry better track and capture the real-time copy/fax/scan usage per case file. By The Zivley Law Firm handling all of it’s own document reproduction in house, they will no longer need to send out small jobs to 3rd party copy houses but instead be able to offer this service at a much more reasonable rate to his clients.

Perry’s case monitoring and day to day work flow is already becoming much more efficient. Just in the first week of using the machine, Perry has cleared the little mountains of paper that were once piled in A.D.D stacks all over his desk. Now having all of his files scanned into a central repository and neatly filed with logical file names, Perry will have instant access to important data in seconds. No more frantic searches and he can even work from home if he needs to.

All in all, I’d say the decision to go paperless has been a major feat of achievement for the Zivley Law Firm; probably the best decision the firm has made all year. Now all we need to do is get the Zivley blog set up for Perry and Harriett to start publishing to. Once that occurs, the entire landscape of the Zivley Law Firm will be entering a whole new dimension – Let’s see if blogging will be as painless?… as going paperless.

Getting everyone in a law firm to upgrade their technology doesn’t just happen over night. Especially when you’re dealing with such a drastic overhaul like my latest project which has been loosely titled by Nick McLawhorn w/ FindLaw as: ‘The Zivley Law Firm Upgrades In Public’

As the project evolves, it is reminding me more and more of the days not so long ago spent in a garage building hot rods with my Dad.

My Dad always said: “Just because it ain’t broke doesn’t mean you can’t make it better.” And this is exactly what ‘hot roddin’ (or car-hacking) is really all about. We always began by deconstructing the entire car until the frame, the body & all of the other parts were scattered all over the garage.

Once we had the car completely stripped down we would then make a checklist of all the parts and determine which ones were worth keeping or re-using. Afterwords we would begin cleaning and repairing each salvageable part to try and get it back to its original state.

Yet, as one will find in most frame up restorations, some parts are just not worth repairing. It usually proves less expensive (and less time consuming) to replace the damaged parts (like hoods, fenders and doors) with new ones instead of trying to repair them all. So since we were building hot rods, we took great pride in coming up with new and innovative ideas on how to modify a car to be more useful or for the ego’s sake — “more original.”

Sometimes, just by simply adding air conditioning or power windows or a CD player was our way of making the car more up-to-date. And for the other times that we really wanted to get the car anti-modernized, we would install a late model blown out engine, chop the top, drop it to the ground, slap some Mickey Thompsons on it and spray some flames over the hood, then call it a hot rod and go light up the streets!

Thus, it goes without saying, as time goes on I’m finding that being in the business of re-manufacturing a law firm, for 21st century usability, is very similar to running a kustom rod shop. Some clients want it quiet and slick and others want it loud and eye-poppin, but they all want it to be one of a kind and to go really FAST!!

The joys of purchasing new computers have begun. Here we are smack dab in the middle of the hardware upgrade phase, and deciding the best products for the Zivley law firm to invest in is no easy task, especially in a world with too many options and too few sure bet standards. I can tell that Perry is hesitant about making a Mac purchase, and who can blame him? I’m still not sure whether its safe to start advocating that a primarily windows based law firm should hop on board of the Steve Jobs bandwagon.

I’d be more convinced of the interoperability if the Mac guys would start spending more time informing us windows users about how Apple is a better computer for running all of our windows applications on, and less time promoting their Leopard operating system + misc. softwares. Maybe then they would see an influx of new hardcore Win-Mac followers…

The existing Zivley Law website needs a major facelift (and heart transplant.) Soon I’ll be taking it down and making some tweaks so that Perry doesn’t have to suffer any longer. I have to ask myself what drives a design firm to commit such an atrocity?

I mentioned the beauty of RSS in my first post, but I just wanted to touch on this important web technology in hopes of demystifying it for both the end users and creators of content.

So heres some hope, if you still feel lost when the RSS acronym presents itself, you shouldn’t feel alone. According to a Yahoo study (Oct’05), only about 12% of internet user in the U.S. are even aware of the term “RSS” much less do they actually use it.

RSS feeds are fresh streams of content (txt, image, audio, & video) published directly to the browser of a users computer which is subscribed to receive them.

Just like channels on a radio dial or on a TV, think of RSS as a customizable remote control, or the pre-programmability of the radio stations in your car stereo. RSS enables a consumer of information to retrieve the content they want, when they want it and where ever they want to get it. RSS is also much like a newspaper because it is delivered to you after you have subscribed to it. Therefore saving you a trip to the store every Sunday morning.

IMHO, the core fundamental of RSS (or syndicated technology) is to allow for users who believe in your products, services, and solutions to easily keep an eye on the status of your digital presence. Put bluntly, information becomes really powerful the easier it is to receive.

Typically most RSS feeds are free to subscribe to and they can easily be found on web pages, as web feeds (RSS or Atom) and are usually linked with the word “Subscribe”, with an orange rectangle, , or with the letters or . If you already use firefox as your browser, I highly recommend getting the WizzRSS plug-in to catch all of your feeds.

The content delivery space is evolving. In the future you’ll probably see/hear/read about more businesses trying to find ways to monetize their feeds. Content providers may also try integrating RSS feeds into the ‘pay only’ sections of their websites specifically as an added convenience for their current paid subscribers to take advantage of.

I could certainly see my friends over at the multi-national law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski utilizing RSS feeds to both internally support the distribution and findability of their firm-wide knowledge management archive, as well as to provide timely alerts over the broad spectrum of their various external client extranets.

As feed readers become more a part of the browser’s native environment (verses 3rd party reader reliability) awareness levels for RSS will rise and the real value of using the technology will have been translated to the end user almost invisibly. Whether someone will be willing to pay for the added convenience of RSS is yet to be known. I suspect it all depends on demand of content and ease of usability.

Currently, the possibilities and capabilities of RSS are limitless both in regard to the end user, the content creator, as well as the content distributor. But if you want to learn more about RSS please visit the Wikipedia entry on RSS or if you’re more of a non-conformist and would like to get it straight from the horses mouth; the history and real time news concerning RSS is actively updated on Dave Winer’s blog at www.scriptingnews.com. READER BEWARE — Winer tells life like it is.

Next week: Hopefully I’ll have some showroom floor action of the Zivley’s making their final hardware selections. So lets keep our fingers crossed and hope by this time next week I’ll be blogging about how enlightening it is to teach a lawyer the best practices of using a computer to benefit oneself and ones business, as well as for spreading good tidings to all of mankind.

The personal computer is finally becoming a very useful tool for more people than just geeks. Once upon a time, only top secret scientists had access to this computer, the ENIAC and by its looks it must have taken a degree in physics to be able to operate it.

So today was interesting. I’ve got a better idea of what I’m in store for in regards to getting the Zivley law firm up and running as a real LawTechFirm. The following factors will come into play:

#1 A Firm Wide Hardware Upgrade. Perry, Harriett and Monique, (Perry’s legal assistant) all need new computers. We’re talking Win2000 OS, early model Dell desktops, and a copying machine from the Xerox darkage. You’re probably asking yourself: Is this overhaul going to be Mac or Windows? And that’s why I made a poll so be sure to let us know what you would choose. (Harriett votesMac!)

#2 A Crash Course in Computing. This stemmed from Harriett telling me today that she didn’t know how to bookmark a webpage. Also, when she downloads an attachment from an e-mail, she can never find out where the file ends up going. I think we can all remember those days. =)

Just think, I’m hoping that in less than 30 days Harriett will be publishing her own blog with podcasts and videos. Never the less, Harriett’s troubles are very common growing pains that most users experience when learning to use the web. Don’t lose any sleep Harriett, I’ll help get you up to speed!

#3 Installing Software & Web Applications. Listed below are a few applications that I am recommending for the Zivley firm to install on all of their machines.

I’ll add more later (like video and audio editing software.) If you have any suggestions please leave a comment.

#4 Let The Blogging Begin! After getting our systems aligned we can then dive head first into the action. I know of no better way to start a fire than to strike a match with a little fuel. I hope that this blog contributes to the fuel!

After milestone #1 is complete, everything will seamlessly begin falling in to place. It’s been my experience in the digital life that after all the R&D is wrapped up and we have our direction and focus assembled, everything else comes together super fast and the next thing you know you’re Live! with the jury is in the back room deliberating.

Lastly, I want to publicly thank The Zivleys for retaining my services and skill-set to assist them in launching a weblog. I’m honored to work with professionals that set their fears aside and step over what is considered to be the norm to try something new. I’m not making any promises here, but if you continue to approach the web as a new medium of communication and truly put your heart into it, sweetness is sure to follow. Things are just getting heated up!

Next Week: I’ll be computer shopping with the Zivley’s. So be sure to tune back in for a zoomed in lens showcasing how attorneys go about buying their computers. You’ll also get to see how filming a sales person during a ‘buy moment’ directly effects the bottom line. Maybe one day I’ll be able to trade pixelspace for a new computer, to bad I don’t have any traffic here yet…

Featured Link: Noah photographs himself everyday for 6 years. Here’s his 6 years in about 5 mins.